Hooks: The Forge of Fury

This article assumes that the characters are not using DDAL0601 A Thousand Tiny Deaths as their hook into the Forge of Fury adventure. Although that adventure is the intended path to get characters involved, the following text can serve as a secondary route to get them here!

“The dwarves were boisterous in their celebrations. Young and away from their clans for perhaps the first time in their lives, these earth-dwellers had yet to grow out their full and glorious beards, yet their bravado more than made up for the lack of actual experience. They spun glorious tales of drink and dance, of battle and blood – or was it bloody drinks and dance battles? I cannot rightly recall.

BUT!

They were grand in their ambitions!”

The brightly-dressed gnome took a grand swing from his draught as Durnan coughed and rolled his eyes. Apparently this wasn’t the first time that the surly bartender had heard the tiny bard spin this particular tale.

“Durgeddin the Black – as dwarfy a name as I’ve ever heard – long ago established the hold of Khundrukar below the Spine of the World, far to the north. Too cold for most of us and too far underground for the rest, the dwarves established their citadel in the one place that they felt their sworn enemies (those stinking, vile orcs) wouldn’t look… under a rocky hill called ‘The Stone Tooth’. They named it thusly, it is said, because it looks like a broken orc tusk jutting from the earth – and really, why would dwarves live in the vicinity of such orcish glory?”

He chuckled to himself, loosed a cabbage-smelling belch, and continued unabated:

“Durgeddin was a master smith, and his people took up as his apprentices out of need for goods and a glut of resources for trade. For many years the place churned out exquisite blades and implements of prestigious power… but with that power comes recognition, and with recognition comes enmity, and who better to loathe the dwarves than their age-old foes the orc tribes? The orcs sieged the smiths for months. ‘The Smith’s War’, or ‘Durdeggin’s Vengeance’ as some called it, was a bloody and protracted battle. Much blood was shed, very sad; everyone lost.

Except the orcs, I suppose. They eventually breached the dwarfhold and looted with abandon. Drove the craftsmen out, stole everything they’d made. And why? Blood and glory, I suppose. Agents of chaos, those orcs, or Mrykul or Bane or Mask, who knows? Down to the stones they cleaned the place and this was decades ago – just imagine what has moved in now that those dwarves have been hunted to extinction.

Imagine what the orcs missed.

… imagine what the dwarves would pay to have their honor and clan holdings restored!”

Durnan looked at me plainly as I realized well after he did that my mug was empty. “Look, I’ll fill your mug if you just buy one of his maps and get him out of here” he growled as he pushed over a sloshing, frothy brew of something he generally referred to as ‘the good stuff’, and I plunked three toal in front of the rainbow-clad gnome. In return, the bard handed me a folded and dirty piece of parchment showing Luskan and Mirabar.

“The Forge of Fury, they call it now. It’s somewhere northwest of Mirabar – look for the village of Blasingdell. Little place. Great food. Horrible tippers.” He looked at me expectantly, his hand outstretched. Sighing, I placed two more toal in his grubby palm.

He beamed brightly and added: “Did you know that the dwarves have cousins covered in spines and that have a penchant for poison? Duergar. Nasty little buggers. Might want to go prepared!” These words garnered the attention of a table full of spiky-haired, dusky-skinned dwarves; Durnan swatted at the gnome and jerked his thumb towards the door.

As the colorful gnome scurried out, dodging the glares of what I only assumed to be the duergar sitting across the room, I couldn’t help but wonder… what WOULD those dwarves offer to have their lands restored? Maybe a trip to Blasingdell wouldn’t be out of the question. I mean, that last excursion Durnan pointed me towards worked out pretty well.

Tales from the Yawning Portal, indeed. Might just make a career out of this!

Spoilers below!

For the DM:

For the DM:

The Forge of Fury is near the mining village of Blasingdell, just north and west of Mirabar near the Sword Coast in Faerun.

While Blasingdell is not indicated on the above map, it should be placed along the trade roads that leave Mirabar north or northwest

Blasingdell (and Mirabar) is primarily comprised of humans and dwarves; as such, worship of Moradin, Gorm, and Vergadain wouldn’t be out of place here

Baron Althon, a noble that works with the characters, works best if presented as a descendant of Durgeddin, or at least as a blacksmith that made his (or her!) fortune studying dwarven craftsmanship techniques (specifically those of Durgeddin). Give him or her a little backstory and this NPC will become a vibrant part of the adventure experience for your characters

The characters are under no obligation to sell the magical items at the end of the adventure, though they are free to do so – this is one of the few times that magic items can be sold for gold pieces; the Baron will also purchase the handaxe and warhammer is the characters wish to sell

Be sure to brush up on the suffocation rules from the DMG

this is likely to be the first time that the characters enter an underground complex – are they using lights? darkvision is only black & white, so this might change how you describe some rooms and areas

this adventure runs best with four characters at level 3, but AL play allows for tables of 3-7 players of levels 1-4 (tier 1)

remember that permanent magic items can be used while playing an adventure and only need to be assigned to characters (and thereby increase that character’s permanent magic item count) at the conclusion of the adventure

the ghost of the dwarf may be insane, but what does it say? how does it act? what if the characters attempt to interact with it?

the ring has nothing stored inside of it

There are some great roleplaying opportunities for the NPCs in the adventure; read page 31 very carefully!

Thinking outside the box:

Thinking outside the box:

with tables of 6-7 players, consider some ways to increase the scope of the adventure and keep everyone entertained

increase the size of the maps to 10′ squares instead of the normal 5′ square

add 1-2 additional monsters to each combat

adjust spell lists based on in-game events: did the sentries sound an alarm or destroy the bridge? (etc)

be ready to run the Mountain Door Defenses sidebar and adjust as needed (see the note about spell lists)

it’s been said that troglodytes just LOVE to wrestle people prone and shove their heads underwater…

encourage roleplaying where possible and appropriate – the orc sentries provide a great set of circumstances for the characters to interact with

the inscriptions around Khundrukar are written in dwarvish, but do they have some duergar flair? have the orcs left any graffiti on top of the dwarvish runes?

the characters may find some lore or maps indicating other adventure sites if they search area 49. What will they find? is it related to the above bullet point?

Idalla can become a returning antagonist in later adventures or an erstwhile ally (of sorts). Take note of how the characters interact with this NPC and you may be surprised by the story opportunities that crop up later

Hailing from the wilds of central Michigan, Alan has provided a warm home to a wife and two cats over the years.Of course, they all have to fight with the ever-expanding collection of beholder-related paraphernalia - and the recent arrival of his son.

Hailing from the wilds of central Michigan, Alan has provided a warm home to a wife and two cats over the years. Of course, they all have to fight with the ever-expanding collection of beholder-related paraphernalia - and the recent arrival of his son.